This invention is directed toward a method of preventing identity theft and more specifically to a method of preventing theft of corporate documents.
Every year corporate America loses
50 billion to identity theft. Bogus documents such as payroll, accounts payable, cashier's checks, money orders, and other corporate documents are stolen and fraudulently produced. Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the United States. A thief steals someone's identity every fourteen seconds. When identity theft occurs, the victim suffers financial loss and emotional trauma. Both the financial institution and merchant also suffer losses. As technology has changed, it has become easier for thieves to steal one's identity.
Attempts to solve this problem have not worked. For example, positive pay only protects the commercial check issuer and their bank. Positive pay does not confirm the correct person is presenting the check and does not stop stolen checks from passing through the system. Validation services only indicate whether the checking account is in good standing and does not confirm the identity of the check presenter or authenticity of the document. Finally, biometrics does not prevent identity theft as, for example, a fingerprint does not tie the person to the checking account or the document. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method that addresses these problems.
An objective of this invention is to provide a method of preventing identity theft that reduces instances of theft.
Another objective is to provide a method of preventing identity theft that ties verification to the document.
These and other objectives will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the following description.